List of Zimbabwe students who received US scholarships

by Staff reporter

21 Jun 2015 at 10:48hrs | Views

Twenty seventy Zimbabwean students who went through the United States Embassy sponsored United States Achievers Program (USAP) received full scholarships to study at various American universities and colleges.

The students were capped by Ambassador Bruce Wharton, who hailed the occasion as celebrating "the transformative power of education."

The students earned a combined total of $6,1 million in scholarships for four years of study in the U.S.

Among them are 14 MasterCard Foundation Scholarship recipients who will study at University of California Berkeley (1), Arizona State University (7), Wellesley University (1), Michigan State University (1) and 4 students at Ashesi University which is an American-styled institution based in Ghana.

The students were part of USAP, implemented by Education USA Advising Center based at the Embassy's Eastgate offices with satellite offices at the Gweru Memorial Library, Bulawayo Public Library and the Turner Memorial Library in Mutare.

The program assists academically gifted, economically disadvantaged students with leadership and an ethos of giving to negotiate application processes and earn scholarships to top American colleges and universities.

Since it's inception in 1999, USAP has helped tens of Zimbabwean students get accepted to top notch colleges in the United States.

Some have since graduated and are working in various fields in the United States and elsewhere around the world and some have chosen to remain in academia at various institutions in the United States.

"The track record of USAP alumni proves that giving talented, motivated, and high-achieving young people the opportunity to pursue higher education can position them to change organisations, industries, communities and even countries," said Ambassador Wharton.

They include students who come from humble backgrounds but were able to attend top mission and private high schools on scholarships from Capernaum Trust and Makomborero as well as students who attended local high-density and rural schools.

Guest of Honor is Dr. Sekai Nzenza, who is also the Board Chair and Managing Director of Amatheon Agri Zimbabwe, told the excited students to return to Zimbabwe and contribute to the development of the country. Quoting from a song by Zimbabwean musical icon Oliver Mtukudzi - dada nerudzi rwako - he reminded the students that their relatives and parents are the people who have made them what they are and will continue to have meaning in their lives.

"There is a sense of inferiority when you go to strange new places, that sense of inferiority is normal but it must be overcome by the sense that I am who I am and I am intelligent," said Dr Nzenza, who herself undertook graduate studies in a foreign land, Australia.